Explaining the Knitting World to Non-Knitters

Sometimes being a knitter is pretty hilarious, particularly when you are getting to know someone new. At some point, they always ask, “so, what’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever made?” This question always sends me into a tailspin, trying desperately to locate my most complicated project ever! I often forget that someone who has never knitted a stitch is probably just as impressed by my first sweater that I have never worn, as the Estonian lace shawl that I am knitting for a wedding gift.

These conversations are generally with non-knitters, so I can’t just send them to my online Ravelry page, which is generally organized (though not quite as organized as my queue. I might be obsessed). No, I must instead send them into the depths of my poor flickr account, which really only serves as a place to hold some of my travel photos, and to feed images of projects into Ravelry. The problem here is that it’s not just projects. It’s also hundreds of pictures of yarn. Which leads to conversations like this one:

Lesley: this is lace. It was a shawl for my sister’s wedding (this is me trying to impress my new friend with my fancy shawl)

I love that hat.

Friend: we drove from Virginia to upstate New York every summer…and one year I traveled with big needles and a ball of yarn. The project only lasted the length of the trip…two long car rides on either end of a week on Lake George.

Lesley: 🙂 It’s a good travel project

I generally knit socks when I travel

Friend: the lace looks very delicate.

(Brief Pause)

Friend: You take pictures of yarn….just yarn. That’s funny.

SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Pistachio. Also “just yarn.”

Lesley: (oh crap, now they think I’m insane) Well, there is a reason…!

Friend: do tell

Lesley: There is a special social networking site for knitting and crochet

it’s called Ravelry

and you can list all the yarns you have so that it’s easier to pick projects

the site communicates with flickr, so all my photos are there

Friend: wow. a world I had no idea existed.

Lesley: yeah

knitters are silly

Friend: apparently.

Perhaps I should clean up my flickr account to avoid such future explanations? Probably not. There’s far too many interesting things on Ravelry to distract me.

Have you had a strange encounter of the knitting kind? Share it with us!

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Try explaining to running friends that your online running forum exists on a social networking site for knitters/crocheters. It does amaze them that that you are not the only person who plays with sticks and string when not running. 🙂